He's gay. He's gay! No women at all! The hottest guy in New York City is right in front of me, and gay! I was so happy I could scream until my voice was nothing but a wheezy breath. He was waiting for my answer, my reaction, any kind of response I could have had. But I didn't have one. I quickly stammered up the most basic thing.

"Oh, me too."

...

The first semester seemed to go by quickly. I worked (I became a server at the Artist's Pallet! Although the manager is evil...), studied, danced, got some good grades and some bad ones. It was...normal. I met Rin's friends. Castiel, Romeo, Jacklyn, and Stephen. It turns out we'd both known Matteo before, and Mari hit on him once. We all got close, and would hang out frequently. We celebrated Rin's twenty-fourth birthday on Halloween. He nearly cried, it was so sweet. Rin baked me a cake and Maya took us all ice skating for my twentieth. I never really realized how much of a jump from nineteen to twenty felt until it happened. I was able to say 'I've been on this Earth for two decades!' Isn't that weird? Anyway, we all celebrated Christmas at Maya's house. Her family came to visit for a week during that time. Apparently Rin picks Spanish up freakishly easily. Maya's parents had learned some more English since the last time I saw them. They insist on 'being more American'. That means celebrating all the traditional American holidays and such. Big fireworks on the fourth of July. They seemed to take a liking to Rin, although most of us had a blast teaching him insults he didn't know the translation to. He'd look around desperately to Maya, Castiel, me, or anyone who knew spanish and ask what 'Eres tan feo que hiciste llorar a una cebolla' meant. Poor Rin. Poor I-took-French-in-High-School-help-me-out Rin.

Last but not least, the obvious question.

Yes, I'm still into him. Everyone says there's awkward flirting between us, and Maya says Rin's told her secrets that she won't tell me. Like I said, Maya is the perfect person to tell a secret. It's annoying when you're on the keeping secrets side. Although... I've told her some things about Rin too.

During the break, I had three PTSD attacks. I've been living up to my New Year's resolution to figure out my shit. Every Sunday I visit my Father in the prison. He barely talks to me. If he does, the conversation is always the same.

"Hey, Dad. How've you been since last week?"

"I don't know, son. I'm in fucking prison all because you couldn't shut your god damn mouth about a few times I messed up as a parent."

"Dad...we've been over this in court. You abused me and Anon. You're charged with murder and even before you met Mom you were a registered sex offender. Not to mention since I've started coming here you've done nothing but trigger my PTSD and insult my sexual orientation!" This is the part where I'd usually start having flashbacks. I'd give the officers their cookies and rush out, where some friends wait. Last time it was Rin, Romeo and Terri. Rin held me close as I dissociated in the backseat. He told me about how much he liked the embroidery on my backpack while he pointed out the different flowers. He promised I'd never be hurt like that again, as long as he was there. By the time we got back to the dorm, the world had stopped doing circles in my mind and I didn't feel like my ribs were breaking from how hard my heart was beating. That memory of Rin is one of my favorites. It made me feel like he truly cared.

It was all extremely fun and scary, but soon we were too tired from the fun and drama. Soon after New Year's, our break began to come to a close. Rin and I sat on the couch, clicking through T.V channels and talking about shower thoughts.

" ...so it just brings me right back to the same puzzle. " I finished, looking at him.

"It makes sense...in a way." Rin said, bringing a hand into his hair. His previously neck length strands now draped down to his collarbone. Every piece moved like silk in the wind and glistened like the morning dew. He moved his fingers from his roots at the way down to the clean ends. There was no sign of a single tangle or flaw in his beautiful locks. He still stayed away from his bangs. During our break, I began to raise suspicions. Perhaps there really was something to hide there.

After watching a very interesting scene of Phineas and Ferb, Rin brought his eyes towards me and let his face rest. I understood why people were intimidated by him. But I don't think it's right that they are. People are too quick to judge.

"Andren, can I ask a question?" He inquired, bringing the back of his hand to his cheek. His lips parted enough to see the small pointed teeth he had. They weren't as pointed as mine, but his top and bottom canines were more arched than a human's. I suppose you could compare it to a dragon's. I hated pointed teeth...but everything about Rin was just so damn attractive.

"Sure." I shined a smile at him before listening to his next response. He seemed conflicted.

"...What do you think I am?"

Uh... gorgeous? I wasn't too sure how to answer that. I thought he was a lot of things. But I didn't really know what he meant either.

"What do you mean?" I asked softly, yanking through my corkscrewed ends.

"I mean, I can smell the Demon and Vampire on you. I'm...still a bit confused about why the Vampire is so faint, but I don't think I ever told you what I am." Rin explained. And...he was right. I couldn't remember any time I'd heard what he was. I'd never seen fangs like his, if you could call them fangs. I could really picture him as anything. Perhaps a werewolf? His hair would make sense. Werewolves typically had long black hair that went where it wanted to. A poltergeist wouldn't be a surprise either. That would mean he had a life before this one, like my friend Terri. When we were talking about her 1940's life, she showed me pictures of her parents and six siblings. She even had pictures of her early 20's when she worked as a Pin-up Girl. Her husband died in the war and left her with their three children, but they all got on fine without him. Terri-or Aryanna at the time, never remarried. She ended up passing because of Malaria in 1969. From the moment she was born in her current body, she remembered everything about her past life. She's a fairly new poltergeist, due to only having two lives. The more lives, the more wisdom, the more power.

I'd never want to be a poltergeist. The more lives I remember, the more people I'd miss. It seems like a cheat to me. If you're supposed to devote your entire life to one person, and you both die, your next life completely ruins all you have built. But since I'm an idiot demon and every breath I take is damned for eternity, my opinion doesn't matter.

"Andren?" Rin asked, waving a hand in front of my face. I zoned back into the moment and looked at Rin.

"Sorry..." I muttered, shoving a hand into my pocket. I kept a pen in my pocket to quietly click and pay attention.

"It's fine, it's late. I should go." Rin gave me a nod before getting on his feet and turning to his room. I didn't want him to leave at all. I felt comfortable and safe with him there. And I'd yet to ask him the question Maya urged me to. I quickly leaned against the back of the couch and caught onto Rin's fingers. His skin was much more pigmented than mine, and although they were littered with small scars, his hand was soft, and easy to hold. Rin looked back at me, seemingly being careful of his covered eye. I stayed like that for a moment, enjoying the view. What seemed like minutes to me were merely seconds before one of us spoke.

"Go to the party with me tonight." I requested.

Rin gave me a confused look. "A Party?"

He still didn't get out much. Not by himself, at least.

"Yeah, at Duke and Lauren's place. It's on East Campus. The Corduroy Apartments?" I looked at Rin, hoping to get something.

"Oh, I know where that is. I had a study with Duke once." Rin nods.

I smiled and stood from my spot on the couch. "Let's go then!" Rin gave another small nod and went to his room, gently pushing the door shut. I did the same, looking through my closet. I chose an oversized knit sweater and black jeans. The navy sweater was light and comfortable. I looked even smaller in it, but oh well. I looked in the full body mirror at my hair.

"Oh, what the hell." I muttered, grouping my thick strands and putting it in a ponytail, making a half up half down style. I liked it. My head felt lighter. I walked out of my room and slid on a pair of black heeled ankle boots. As I zipped the left shoe, Rin walked out in a dark purple button up and jeans. He was fiddling with the fourth button, and once it was fastened, he went to pick up his black Chelsea boots.

"Damn..." I muttered, fixing my sleeve. Rin looked at me with a confused look.

"Pardon?" God...he's so polite. It's almost irritating.

"I said damn. You look really good in purple." Rin's face seemed to get pinker with that comment. He muttered a thanks and quickly put his shoes on.

"Ready?" He asked, grabbing his keys and pulling on a gingerly used leather jacket from the coat rack. I nodded and he effortlessly opened the door. During the semester, we figured out our door was broken. Even Rin had trouble opening it sometimes. It was fixed before we knew it and I never had to kick it open again.

We started on our way to the parking lot, slightly arguing about who's car to take. Rin's Lexus eventually won against my Subaru, debating until we stopped at the cars. I got the privilege of being the DJ, and we ended up singing to Journey, Queen and random Disney songs.

Duke and Lauren's house was already packed as Rin and I stumbled out of the car, laughing. Rin left his leather jacket in the car and made sure I saw him lock the back and front set of doors. We approached the house as a few drunk football majors started a new round of Beer Pong. The lights were low inside, as were the non alcoholic drinks. I grabbed a can of cheap beer and cracked it open. Rin gave me a concerned look.

"What? Everyone drinks underage at least once. Plus I'm only a year away," I said, taking a sip from the can. The beer left a sour expression on my face as I held it out to Rin. "But I think I can wait..."

Rin chuckled and slipped it back into my hand. "Beggars can't be choosers, Andren." I groaned and took another drink.

"You'll need this too." Rin said, holding out a stick of gum. I gladly took it and stuffed it in my pocket. A guy with light brown hair and an undercut stumbled over to Rin and slumped an arm over his shoulders. I could smell his sour breath from where I was standing. It must have been terrible for Rin.

"Oi...Rin...hehe...come do shots...I bet I can do more..." I recognized that voice. In my American History class. Jake Mcconnell. Economics major. A complete douchebag. He walks into class late and takes his sweet time choosing the one seat open. Also...spit wads. Yep, he flings around his nasty rolls of notebook paper and saliva into the girl's hair. He did it to me too...Maya gave him a pretty stern pep talk.

Rin looked to me, a sign of 'Help. What the fuck do I do?'. I've used that look a couple times. I raised my eyebrow and nodded towards the long table where ten shots of what looked to be hard liquor sat. If he was making me drink, I sure as hell wasn't going to pass this up. Rin sighed and walked over to a stool and sat. Jake looked to the stool and began to sit.

"Jake...no," One of his friends said, moving Jake and sitting himself."Or else I'll out you to the rest of the school."

Jake was quiet for the rest of the night.

So..Party... drinking...RIN. I'm sorry that I'm not sorry. I hope you liked this chapter, Pine Cones! <3